Some processed meat products contain whole or partial muscle groups, and/or ground and emulsified meat. These products which may also contain spices, bacteriostats, binders and other additives are stuffed into a casing and then cooked, followed by cooling and storage at a low temperature. In the manufacture of some of these meat items the cooking also involves smoking or smoke flavoring. Examples of these processed meats which are stuffed into casings are sausage meats, ham products and various poultry products.
Because of environmental concerns, as well as capital costs, it has been considered advisable to substitute various liquid smoke products for smoke house processing in order to impart smoky flavor to the meat. Hollenbeck U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,669 discloses production of a widely used commercial aqueous smoke solution of natural flavors from wood smoke. Although the liquid smoke could be added directly to the meat formulation before it is stuffed in a casing, the liquid smoke added in this manner will not impart the desired smoke or brown color to the meat surface.
It has been proposed previously to coat the inside of a meat formulation casing, before it is shirred, with a liquid smoke solution, release agents, gelatin, sugars, albumin, amino acids and other materials. Shiner et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,379 discloses a slugging or bubble method of coating an unshirred casing. The coating is dried and the casing stored. Bridgeford U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,827 discloses the application of liquid smoke solution through a hollow mandrel to the internal surface of a casing as it is being shirred. The coated casing is then shirred into a tightly compacted accordion pleated form.
The above-described methods of coating a casing with smoke flavoring involve expensive equipment and very carefully controlled operations. Furthermore, they are not methods readily performed by a meat processor so that he must buy the casing pre-coated rather than coat it as and when needed. Since a meat processor may want to use a casing that is not smoke coated for certain meat products, it would be advantageous for him to purchase and stock only uncoated casing and to coat only that amount of casing needed by him for particular types of processed meats.